


oslo nights

by melforbes



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, hello new fandom whats crackin, viking treasure trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29210250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melforbes/pseuds/melforbes
Summary: Six months after Lost Legacy, Chloe and Nadine head to Norway in search of viking treasure
Relationships: Chloe Frazer/Nadine Ross
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> nothing will ever be thinner than this plot but im assuming no one clicked on this for the plot

Chloe thought there were two kinds of airports in this world: ones that resembled barns and had a staff of under ten people, and places that sprawled for miles and brimmed with _duty free_ and souvenirs, signs written in every language imaginable hanging over places as universal as bathrooms. And the Cairo airport was absolutely the latter, so many people in line with her as she waited to check in for her flight. And no, she didn’t want to check her bag, thank you very much, and she’d left all of the pins she usually kept on her pack back in the useless apartment she still had in Kuala Lumpur, not wanting to take those off at security checkpoints, so now, her big, red pack stood out in the line. And no, she wouldn’t let them weigh it either, they could mind their own business, couldn’t they? When the attendant asked her to take off her sunglasses to match her identity with the one on her passport, she sighed, then took the glasses off, squinting all the while. Though Egypt may not often sell alcohol, she sure knew how to figure out which places made an exception. And the Cairo job had been successful enough for her to spring for the expensive stuff.

In eight hours, including the stopover in Istanbul, she would meet Nadine in Oslo, the two of them heading north from there. Always the planner, Nadine had tickets for everything, only having Chloe find a route from Cairo to Norway, her email inbox brimming with itineraries, ferry tickets, hostel stays, climbing equipment rentals. Though Cairo had gone fine, even better than fine, she sat in her seat on the plane and smiled as she read through all of the bookings on her phone, none of which she’d made. She could fly by the seat of her pants just fine, but this time, she wouldn’t be stuck somewhere without a rope, and she might not have to sleep underneath the stars as a result of her own forgetfulness. When she thought of partnerships, she usually thought of bribery, of having to stick to her guns each time others crossed her, of obnoxious agendas she wanted no part in, but so far, Nadine seemed only to want the job completed without any hiccups. Chloe could get used to that.

She’d had to tape her headphones back together again. When she got the deposit from this job, she would buy a new pair, and one of those wireless pairs too, eliminating one problem from her life. _Waterproof might be a good idea,_ she thought as she nudged the cord into the jack, _please work please work please work,_ and pulled up the only playlist she had saved. She needed another SIM card, and to back up her photos too. How many had she taken in Cairo? Not many, but she’d gone to the pyramids, and who _didn’t_ take a picture there? And some of the meals she’d had, and the bazaars, and the pictures were faceless, at least faceless by recognition. She had taken this job alone, whether she’d wanted to or not. With the music on loud enough to make her earbuds shake, she turned her phone off, then looked out the window of the plane, the city skyline looming in the distance. Soon enough, she would be in a place with snow, and she hadn't seen snow in a long time.

An announcement came through the plane. They would be taking off soon, and though she’d liked Cairo, Chloe couldn’t wait to leave. 

* * *

“Where on earth is your coat?”

“Darling!”

At the arrivals gate, Chloe ran up to Nadine, ready to jump into the other woman’s embrace, but Nadine’s biceps bulged as she crossed her arms. Nope, they weren’t going to hug. That was fine. Nadine wasn’t big on touching anyway.

“It’s snowing right now,” Nadine said, tilting her head toward the window. She’d pulled her hair back into two little braids and hadn’t bothered taking off her blue puffy coat inside. “You’ll freeze.”

Looking down at her tee shirt, Chloe shook her head, said, “I’ve worn less in worse weather.”

Nadine sighed, then reached out to take Chloe’s pack. Oh, a gentlewoman. 

“There’s souvenir shops everywhere,” Nadine gave. “We’ll find you a sweater.”

And they made their way to the train station inside of the airport, a direct route into the city, their car packed with others wearing coats like Nadine’s, some even wearing hats and mittens indoors. As Nadine found them two seats, putting Chloe’s pack in the overhead storage and letting Chloe take the window seat, Chloe found the other passengers staring at her, the least dressed person in the car, almost naked by comparison. Maybe Nadine was right; Chloe had goosebumps on her arms already, and though her light packing usually came in handy, now she wondered if three tee shirts, three pairs of jeans, and enough underwear and cotton socks for a week would come back to bite her.

“We’ll make a list of what you have,” Nadine said, pulling off her coat and passing it to Chloe. As Chloe put the coat on, Nadine reached into its front pocket, making Chloe pause, and took out her cell phone. “Starting with base layers.”

Chloe huffed a laugh, then zipped up the coat. “Base layers.”

Without her coat on, Nadine wore just joggers and a sweater, something ribbed, light blue, and soft-looking. At some point, Chloe would have to reach out and touch, see if the material felt as soft as she thought it did. 

“Yes, base layers,” Nadine said, as if what those were would be obvious. “Long johns. Tights. Woolens.”

“Yeah, don’t own anything like that, love,” Chloe gave, and Nadine sighed, opened a note on her phone and added that first. 

“What about a jacket?” Nadine asked, and Chloe put her palm over Nadine’s phone, stopping her there.

“I can tell you exactly everything I have,” Chloe said, “if that makes things easier.”

“Alright,” Nadine gave, and to Chloe’s surprise, she brushed her thumb over the back of Chloe’s hand. That was...familiar. She hadn’t sounded that familiar back when Chloe had been in Cairo. “Go ahead.”

“Well,” Chloe said, but the thumb had thrown her off. What was she talking about? Right, her pack. The contents of her pack. “Toothbrush, toothpaste-”

“Oh, I’d hope so.”

“Do you want to know or not?”

Nadine gave her a look, so she continued, “Three shirts-”

“Long sleeve?”

“Not that kind of girl.”

“Do you know nothing about Norway?”

“Three shirts,” Chloe repeated, “three pairs of jeans, a week’s set of the unmentionables, which I won’t elaborate on no matter how much you insist you want to know.”

Nadine huffed, “What else?”

“Hair bands. The essentials. My passport, I hope.”

“And that’s it?”

“Can’t a girl have some privacy?”

Nadine leaned back in her seat, an incredulous look on her face.

“You brought absolutely nothing,” Nadine said, somehow shocked.

“I pack light,” Chloe gave. “You know that.”

“You pack like an idiot,” Nadine said. “First shop we find, we’re getting you clothes. And lots of clothes.”

So as they sat in a noodle shop that evening, Chloe tugged at her new sweater, the wool making her itchy. _Icelandic wool,_ this kind was special and Scandinavian and, most incredulous to Chloe, not even from this country, and though Nadine had looked for the ski sweaters covered in snowflake motifs, Chloe went with this one instead, ruby red and heathered. Nadine had insisted on mittens, the most impractical handwear, and if Chloe ever needed to put on the thermal underwear that gave her a flat ass and bulk in the front, she would never let Nadine hear the end of it. Though the new jacket was welcome, she’d been sad to give back Nadine’s, warm and worn-in, a little hole stuck through the inside of its pocket. She wasn’t sure why anyone liked new coats; no, she preferred for hers to be comfortable and movable, nothing holding her back, and despite its warmth, this new red coat felt a bit like a straitjacket. If she had to climb in it, she would complain the whole time.

Big bowls of ramen, steam wafting up, thank goodness. Norway was much too cold, especially after Cairo, and as Nadine set down printouts of their itinerary, Chloe picked up her chopsticks and stirred her soup almost sensually. _Do you like that?_ she mentally asked, staring down at the mushrooms, the noodles, those perfect soft-boiled eggs that took on the flavor of the broth. _Oh, you like that? Well, call it a bit of thanks for warming me up._

“We’ll drive out to the mountain tomorrow,” Nadine said, “and we’ll hang lines, then camp at the base.”

Chloe looked down at Nadine’s map of Gudvangen and scoffed.

“We don’t need lines,” Chloe said, using her chopsticks to pick up some noodles. “Waste of time. If you’re in shape, we can try to summit tomorrow afternoon.”

“Of course I’m in shape,” Nadine said, then shook off the distraction. “And we can’t risk a fall. There’s nothing between the summit and sea level. It’s a death trap.”

“You sure know how to pick them, honey,” Chloe said, then gracelessly raised the noodles into the air, letting them ribbon down into her mouth.

And supposedly there was a cache of Viking treasure hidden in this mountain. Had the Norwegian government feigned interest, or at least been willing to hire capable climbers, they would’ve gotten to it by now, but instead, the mountain remained unscaled by experts, and they could get their hands on Viking gold. Within reason, of course. Thievery, she knew, was only worth its effort in exchangeable currency. And she wouldn’t mind having another of her finds out into a museum, her name kept on the plaque, _C. Frazer_ as if she were some kind of professional with an office full of books. But her mind wandered from the gold, the steam from her soup clouding the window they sat alongside, and Oslo was a bustling city, cold and crowded and strangely comfortable, and the fogged-up blur felt cinematic, and when she looked over at Nadine, she thought she could call this a date. Then, Nadine pulled another folder from her backpack, and Chloe shook off the idea. No, not a date, not even a little bit romantic. Business, not pleasure. She needed to stop confusing the two.

A month ago, Nadine had come to her with this idea. One Wikipedia rabbit hole, and suddenly, Nadine wanted to follow the Vikings.

The leads are solid, Nadine texted Chloe, _and I need a partner._

Though Chloe could’ve retorted, could’ve sent back some snarky line or called Nadine a hypocrite, instead she had lain on her stomach in bed, her phone set out in front of her pillow, the light from the screen contrasted by the darkness of her tiny room making her eyes hurt. She could still hear the other people in the apartment, these students who had rented her a bed, and they stayed up all night doing whatever they pleased, offering Chloe earplugs when she “checked in,” so to speak. And she heard them speaking Arabic and laughing, and she didn’t know what they were saying, but she understood enough to know they felt comfortable, they felt joy, they were staying up late and having a good time and not feeling as lonely as she did. And because she felt lonely, she wanted to say yes to Nadine. She hadn’t had another reason to say yes. Right? Back then, she’d been lonely, and Nadine’s intelligence and objectivity greatly surpassed her own. So following Nadine to Norway on a hunch - and for pay, of course - was completely logical. Saying no was out of the question for purely scientific reasons. She was only saying yes because this job sounded proper.

 _It’s not as if you have another one,_ Chloe sent back in jest, and she imagined Nadine in Cape Town, sitting in the apartment she had overlooking the ocean. Nadine had texted Chloe pictures plenty of times, the ocean view from her living room, and she sat there and ate her breakfast, always something ridiculous and practical like muesli, and she sent the picture an hour later so that she wouldn’t wake Chloe with the text. And in return, Chloe would send back pictures of Cairo, the _wish you were here_ only implied, and she would imagine Nadine in the same way, sitting in that kitchen with the ocean view, looking down at her cell phone and smiling. 

“We’re setting lines,” Nadine said with finality, but Chloe knew for a fact that they wouldn’t.

* * *

Their room at the hostel had six bunks, two lockers set underneath each bed. Thankfully, the hostel provided them with towels and sheets, so Chloe didn’t need to hear a lecture about her packing skills again. Though they wouldn’t have much privacy, Nadine at least had them covered on accommodations, enough to keep them comfortable without going over budget. And they’d both slept in worse places before.

“We’ll pick up the car from here tomorrow,” Nadine said as they both sat on the bottom bunk, the curtains hanging around the bed left closed. She pointed to a certain spot on the map she’d pulled up on her laptop, the two of them leaning against the headboard, bodies close in the small space. “And then, we’ll drive through here toward the mountain.”

Chloe watched as Nadine’s finger trailed over the computer screen. Nadine had such steady hands, like a surgeon’s, never shaking, never faltering. Like dancers with intense control, their muscles never twitching out of time. Her own hands felt feeble and fallible in comparison. She wondered what it would be like to hold Nadine’s hands in hers, feel that steadiness against her own unsteadiness.

“We’ll pitch camp here,” Nadine pressed at one spot on the map, “and we’ll have enough food and supplies for three days.”

Chloe quirked a lip. “Someone did her homework.”

“I don’t want this to be a waste of time.”

“It’s a Norwegian vacation with my best girl,” Chloe gave. “Why would it be a waste of time?”

Nadine shifted awkwardly, then switched tabs on her laptop.

“We’ve got a four-by-four again,” Nadine said, changing the subject, “and this time, I’m driving.”

“You don’t trust me behind the wheel?”

“I don’t trust you in snow.”

“Well.” 

Her driving experience in snow, she had to admit, left something to be desired.

“I haven’t booked us return tickets,” Nadine said, “but I expect we should be home before the end of the week.”

It was Monday now, or at least so Chloe thought, the time change be damned. 

“Well, seems like everything will go smoothly,” Chloe said, holding her arms out in front of her, trying to stretch her shoulders in this small space, “and we’ll both be quite a bit richer by the end of the week.”

“It would be nice to have a predictable job for once,” Nadine said with a sigh.

Yes, Nadine had gone home to a mess, one Chloe hadn’t heard much about but had understood nonetheless. Her father’s company, her family’s legacy, and she needed to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Unlike Chloe, Nadine didn’t have an anonymous home, an apartment that served as storage and little else, such little family left that she felt untethered to this world perhaps in a good way. While Chloe worked odd jobs, keeping the lights on and the wine flowing, Nadine had to deal with the _real world,_ that wretched thing. When Nadine did her taxes, she probably didn’t give her accountant waterlogged forms shoved into a shoebox, and she had probably gone to the doctor within the last two years, maybe even within the last one. _I can’t just follow you to Cairo,_ Nadine had said months ago, and though Chloe knew Nadine hadn’t meant to insult her, she felt the insult anyway. _I can’t follow you,_ Chloe had heard, _because we are fundamentally different people, and as a result, we will never truly connect._

But she didn’t want to think about Cairo. Reaching out, she touched Nadine’s keyboard, clicked to open a new tab. Now, _Netflix,_ and Nadine’s account had exactly one queue. Strange. Chloe wondered if Nadine kept that password locked down, top secret, never to be shared.

“Not shocked you pay for your own,” Chloe gave.

Nadine furrowed her brow.

“You don’t?”

“Of course not.”

“Then whose do you use?”

“Nathan Drake’s,” Chloe gave. “Well, technically his wife’s.”

“And you just ruin their recommendations?”

“No,” Chloe said, not understanding why she had to explain this, “I have my own queue, and so does Sam.”

“Now, _that_ I believe."

“Pick something,” Chloe said, not wanting to talk about the Drake brothers. “I’m a bit wired still.”

“Something?”

“You know. A movie.”

“I haven’t seen a movie in a long time.”

“Then what do you watch?”

And looking at the recent picks, all Chloe saw was anime.

“I don’t have a lot of spare time,” Nadine said, and oh, was she blushing? 

“Just pick one,” Chloe said. “I’m up for anything.”

Nadine nodded, then put on the most recently watched show. Taking a pair of earbuds from her pocket, she plugged the headphones in, then offered Chloe one side of the set.

“I prefer subtitles over dubs,” Nadine said.

As Chloe relaxed against Nadine, the show playing in a language she didn’t understand, that energy she’d felt started to wane. Though there was only an hour's time difference between Cairo and Oslo, she still had found the flight tiring, her second wind going away, and this place was so cold, but Nadine’s body was so warm alongside hers. And Nadine’s light blue sweater felt so soft on Chloe’s bare arms, and it was only human to want to snuggle. Softness and warmth in a cold place, those were animal motivations, and she couldn’t fight her survival instincts, could she? Sliding down against the headboard, she leaned her head on Nadine’s soft shoulder. There. Much better.

“Comfortable?” Nadine asked, forcing out an awkward laugh.

Chloe hummed, said, “Very.”

“Let me know if I’m keeping you up.”

“Oh, I will,” Chloe said, then closed her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Gudvangen looked the way Chloe had imagined Norway would look: flat-faced mountains on either side of a wide, still fjord, snow on the peaks, small boats filled with tourists moving through the spacious waters. There were resorts here, all catering to the viking experience, boats adorned with dragons and inns made to look like the old times. And though they weren’t in Gudvangen for the fjord, Nadine still led Chloe toward one of the hotels, much smaller than the ones in Cairo, and walked them both around the attractions, the docks that went out onto the water, the places where makeshift viking ships were kept. So long as they went down the dock, only looked around a little, and then went straight back, no one would be bothered, right? So Nadine took Chloe’s wrist and pulled her down the dock, and had Chloe been able to see them from afar, she would’ve thought she herself and Nadine were walking on water, the fjord so still, the dock so level. And ahead of them, they could see the mountain peaks covered in snow, almost like Nepal, the Himalayas, but then again, sometimes a place was just a place, and it wasn’t quite like any other place, and she wouldn’t want it to feel similar. Tall cliffs, a straight drop into the water below - she was starting to understand why Nadine wanted to hang lines - and they stood together at the end of the dock, endless still water before them, mountains on either side of the fjord, a natural world marvel. Nadine wanted a picture, so Chloe took her phone from her pocket, said she would text one to Nadine, but no, no, that wasn’t right. Nadine wanted a picture of them together. Oh, alright. Coming closer to Nadine, their sides touching, her open arm wrapping around Nadine’s back, Chloe changed to the front camera, then held the phone up in front of both of them, horizontal rather than vertical, making sure that the mountains and water were in the frame. There. One more? Yes, and this time, they were smiling.

But they weren’t in Gudvangen to stay. No, there was one part of the mountain range here, a part that became a tourist attraction in the summer, when the most stubborn snow started to melt. Kjelfossen, that was what the waterfall was called, and Nadine had marked that spot on their maps, red pen, recognizable handwriting. In the winter, the place was abandoned, hardly distinguished, but in the summer, the waterfall flowed freely, a cascade from a high peak, and Nadine had reason to believe that in mountain caverns near this waterfall lay viking treasure. And, sure, it was dangerous, but it wasn’t _that_ dangerous, and they’d both done dangerous jobs before. Though the snow on the rocks made Chloe a little nervous - she could handle sweat, but snow melting between her fingers was something else entirely - she knew they both had the training, the athleticism needed to scale the mountains here. They would be fine.

They were parked far from the tourists and close to the now-still waterfall when Nadine took binoculars from her pack and passed them to Chloe.

“There’s a significant drop,” Nadine said as they both got out of the car.

Looking up at the sky, all solid grey, Chloe figured it would snow tonight, and all they had for accommodations was a flimsy tent. Great. Next time, they were going to Bali, or the Bahamas, or anywhere she could ditch this itchy sweater for a bikini. Why hadn’t Nadine offered Chloe a sweater like her own? Something soft, kitten-fur soft, instead of this scratchy thing. Reluctantly, she took the binoculars and looked up, training her eyes on where Nadine had pointed.

“Damn,” Chloe said, passing the binoculars back. “That _is_ a drop.”

Four- or five-hundred feet, that drop could cause problems. And, of course, they’d scaled worse in Belur, but they hadn’t been climbing on snow-covered cliffs in India, had had sweaty fingers and Asav’s soldiers as their greatest enemies. One good gust near Kjelfossen, and either of them could go down, training be damned. Maybe they should hang lines.

“You see why I wanted to put up ropes,” Nadine said, and was she gloating? Oh, _so_ not a good look. Well, kind of a good look, depending on how Chloe responded.

“Not really,” Chloe gave, heading into the trunk of the car and looking for the proper gear. “If I fall, I know you’ll catch me.”

“ _When_ you fall.”

As she took the ropes from the trunk, Chloe laughed. 

“Piss off,” she said, then thrust the ropes into Nadine’s arms.

* * *

For once, Nadine cooked dinner. Cooked! And it was only lentils and rice, but after having eaten Nadine's MREs in India, Chloe sat on the hood of the car, watched steam rise from her bowl, and felt a kind of lust. Rice, with _lentils,_ no more freeze-dried lemon tuna, no more salty and questionable chicken stew, _real food._ Nadine knew how to use a camp stove. Why was that impressive? But it was, for Chloe had watched Nadine tear open the military meals and eat those as if they were a luxury, then ask Chloe if there was something wrong. _Yes,_ Chloe had said, _there’s something wrong because you’re willing to eat that even though we aren't nearing death._

Though they weren’t far from the tourist areas, there was little enough light pollution here that, as they sat on the hood of the car, they could look up and see stars, so many stars, the sky endless. And the sun never seemed to set, for the reflection of the stars and moon off of the fjord made the world just bright enough for them not to need their headlamps. When the sun started to set, Nadine had put on a beanie, and maybe it was the stars, or maybe it was their flimsy camp all set up, a narrow red tent that looked like it would get blown over in the wind acting as their home for the night, but the small change in Nadine’s appearance had made Chloe pause. A whole person before her, and she barely knew anything about Nadine. The important parts, sure, at least most of them, but Nadine let her hair down and pulled on a beanie, and then, she lit a camp stove and cooked them both dinner, raising her eyebrow and saying that this time they needed hot food. Frazer, aren’t you freezing? I brought spare mittens, since I knew you wouldn’t. Second pocket of my pack, you can’t miss them. And two steel camping bowls, Nadine packed everything, and the last time Chloe was this prepared for a job...well, she’d never been this prepared. And she’d had other partners, but Nathan and Charlie had been big personalities to rival her own, their collective neuroses getting them into trouble. With them, Chloe had felt partially responsible and partially dependent, but with Nadine, she felt that all of her gaps were being filled in. She wanted to know if she filled Nadine’s gaps in too. What would those be? Maybe the trip was a gap altogether, and had they never met, Nadine would’ve never thought that a Wikipedia rabbit hole deserved exploration. Maybe that was worth something.

Her bowl empty, Chloe leaned back against the windshield, staring up at the stars. Though she felt cold, she didn’t want to say so, not now, not with the sky looking so beautiful. Would they see the northern lights? This wasn’t Iceland, but she knew little enough about Scandinavia to assume the country didn’t matter. Maybe, if they traveled far enough north, they could catch the aurora, but then again, why would they have a reason to go north? A weeklong job, nothing more, and then, Chloe would book a ticket back to Malaysia, and Nadine would go back to Cape Town, and in a few months, maybe they would track each other down again. Maybe Chloe would start going down Wikipedia rabbit holes too. Maybe she would get a little desperate. And where to next? Maybe the states, just for kicks. Sometimes, Nate would send her a link to new episodes of that television show of his, he gave her the password for his streaming account and everything, but she hadn’t bothered to watch yet. Maybe she and Nadine could go visit.

No, why would Nadine come with her? Leaning back, Nadine joined her against the windshield. Chloe needed to get a grip. 

“It’s beautiful out here,” Nadine said. “In the city, you can never see this many stars.”

Softly, Chloe smiled.

“Perk of this line of work,” she gave. “There aren’t many, but this is one of them.”

“Does it ever get lonely?”

Chloe furrowed her brow, looked at Nadine. 

“Why would it?” she asked.

Shrugging, Nadine said, “I guess I assumed you would be here alone otherwise.”

“Sure, sometimes,” Chloe gave, turning back to the stars, “but there’s enough here for me not to be lonely.”

She couldn’t tell if she was lying. Yes, she’d been lonely in places like this one, in places more beautiful too, but the loneliness had felt like an itch she could scratch, a problem she could solve. If she wanted human connection, she could find it in a bar or club, she was sociable enough to make friends anywhere, and plenty of people wanted to take impulsive trips to rural places where they could look at the stars. But there was a different kind of loneliness, one she thought should go by a different name. She wasn’t sure she could admit to feeling that kind of loneliness.

“You must know about stars,” Chloe said, changing the subject.

“Ja, a little.”

Chloe thought Nadine knew more than just _a little._

“Tell me about them,” Chloe said, then waved her hand at the sky. “About these ones.”

Nadine squinted - did she really need to do that? Or was she acting, or trying to focus her mind rather than her eyes? And she pointed up at the sky. Here are the easy ones. Ursa Minor, probably the brightest - Chloe followed Nadine’s hand to that spot - and here, the brightest star, that’s Polaris, the bear’s tail. Better known as the North Star, this one sits directly above the North Pole. Yes, Chloe knew of the North Star, but she hadn’t realized it was part of a constellation, let alone one that set that star in a bear’s tail. Which other ones could they see? Orion, and it was easiest to find the belt first, then the remainder of the constellation, and Chloe didn’t know who Orion was, but she didn’t want to interrupt either, so she kept listening as Nadine moved on to the next constellation, Gemini, like the astrological sign. Well, actually, _the_ astrological sign, Nadine laughed, if you believe in that kind of thing. Makes sense sometimes, Chloe gave; have you ever met a sane Libra before? And Nadine gave her a look, so Chloe swallowed her pride. Oh, you’re a Libra. Right. Good to know.

For a while, they both stayed quiet, stared up at the stars and made individual maps in their minds. Chloe traced the lines Nadine had so carefully placed, the North Star above the North Pole, start with the belt and then find Orion. Nothing could make this view better. Well, except for some warm weather, or their bodies closer together, and she could lean her head on Nadine’s shoulder, exhale deeply, and settle in for a while. No, that wasn’t right, they were fine as is. She needed to stop thinking those thoughts. She needed-

Nadine’s fingers brushed Chloe’s, and when Chloe flinched at the touch, Nadine came closer, her hands coming over one of Chloe’s.

“Your hands are freezing,” Nadine said, her palms sandwiched over Chloe’s fingers, rubbing back and forth to help warm up. “Maybe we should turn in for the night.”

Though they sat together in one small place, they hadn’t been close enough to touch, so if they touched, then that touch was deliberate. If they touched, then that touch had a purpose, a meaning. Nadine’s hands felt so warm against Chloe’s. Chloe wondered what would happen if she started unzipping her own coat.

And the tent only had enough space for two sleeping bags, Nadine’s pack left at their feet and the rest of their gear locked in the car. They would need to bend their knees while they slept in order to fit inside. Going inside first, Nadine set down a lit storm lantern, then carved out a space for Chloe and insisted that she bring down the outer flaps, zip them both inside, the winds were getting rough, they would need to conserve warmth. All day, the color of the sky had made them think snow would come in, but none had come, so maybe they were about to get a storm. Maybe they would wake up to find their tent snowed in, needing to shovel themselves out. Or, well, Nadine needing to shovel them both out.

“I brought you a change of clothes, Nadine said, their bodies so close together in this confined space, her pack open. To Chloe’s chagrin, Nadine pulled out the thermal base layers, the ones that made her ass look flat. “It’s important to wear something different to bed. Helps keep you from catching cold.”

“And why would my current clothes make me cold?” Chloe asked.

“Sweat.” Nadine pressed the base layers toward Chloe. “Now, turn around.”

And it was awkward enough trying to change in a small tent while sitting, but as Chloe dressed for bed, she could hear Nadine behind her, and she wondered...no, she didn’t wonder anything. She stared blankly ahead. She tried not to think about having to pee in the middle of the night. She slid the tights up her legs, brought the pullover on, and Nadine had rolled up a pair of socks in the stack, not a pair of Chloe’s socks.

“You gave me your socks,” Chloe said, then reached behind herself, staring straight ahead. No, she would not look. She wanted to look, but Nadine was attractive, and anyone would want to look. Chloe herself included, but no, that wasn’t right. 

“Yes, on purpose,” Nadine said, not taking the socks. “It’s important to keep your extremities warm.”

“Sure,” Chloe gave, and because she already looked ridiculous enough, she put the thick socks on, tugging the cuffs up underneath her leggings. “Are you decent?”

Nadine laughed. “Are you?”

Taking that as a yes, Chloe turned around, and Nadine still had her sweater on. Chloe wouldn’t sleep in her own unless pigs started to fly, but Nadine’s was so soft, and cast in the lantern light in their small tent, she looked so warm, so inviting, muscular arms that could wrap so tightly around Chloe. And their two sleeping bags side by side, so close that they touched, and if Chloe leaned in closer, then they would be conserving warmth, just like Nadine had said. And maybe Nadine would lean in too. Looking down at Nadine’s hands - chapped from the weather, she reached into her pack and found balm to rub on her knuckles - Chloe thought of the hood of the car, so many stars above them, and Nadine’s fingers brushing hers, and it must have been deliberate. There was no other explanation. The two of them had been far enough apart. The gesture must have been deliberate.

But she couldn’t think like this. She could fuck up other partnerships. She could follow Nathan Drake even after he left her hanging, she could put personal matters aside with ease, but Nadine had booked every single ticket, arranged every rental, even opted to hang lines. If Chloe stuck with Nadine, then the money would be easy, the trips smooth, the two of them filling in each other’s gaps. And, sure, she could kiss Nadine. She’d kissed Nathan knowing she might screw him over in the end, and she thought acting on attraction was a virtue rather than a vice, and if she wanted to, she could kiss Nadine, but she wouldn’t, for this partnership made sense. She could use this partnership to put away retirement money. She could travel somewhere without looking for a payout. She could stay in one place because she wanted to, not because she had a job there. If she fucked this up, then she would regret it forever, so she couldn’t kiss Nadine. And, really, it was just that Nadine was attractive, her hair pulled back, her cheeks warm, her eyes bright. Had Nadine been less good-looking, Chloe wouldn’t have had these thoughts at all.

Her ponytail was too tight. Taking the elastic out, she let her hair down, ran her fingers through to make it settle, and when she looked back at Nadine, she caught the other woman staring. Just for a moment, but a stare nonetheless. And then, Nadine unzipped her sleeping back, the zipper catching with the force, so Chloe followed suit, and Nadine really had thought of everything, from plenty of climbing ropes to down sleeping bags. As they both settled in, they could hear the wind whipping outside, their tent surprisingly steady but starting to cool down. Maybe Chloe would need to put her awful sweater back on. 

Nadine turned off the lantern, but the moonlight reflecting off of the snow kept their tent lit. If Chloe’s leg twitched, her knee would bump Nadine’s.

“You’re shivering,” Nadine said, her voice quiet, and she sat up, went back into her pack.

“I’m not,” Chloe said, but Nadine was looking for something extra for Chloe to wear, something Chloe absolutely did _not_ want to wear. “Go to sleep.”

“I think I have a fleece in here somewhere.”

“I’m not going to wear your fleece,” Chloe said. “Honestly, it’s a miracle you’ve gotten me in sleeves at all.”

“Hypothermia is especially high-risk in remote areas.”

“We’re not remote. There’s a resort a couple of miles from here, and we have a car.”

“And you’d be willing to drop cash on a room there just because you’re cold?”

“I’m not cold,” Chloe said, “and no, because this is clearly the superior place to stay.”

Nadine huffed, then pushed her pack back to its end of the tent. Reaching for the finicky zipper, she unzipped her sleeping bag, then reached over to undo Chloe’s while Chloe held up her hands and feigned innocence.

“If you wanted to get into my pants,” Chloe joked, “all you needed to do was ask.”

“It’s to keep warm,” Nadine said, all too serious. “Either you dress warmer, or we zip in together.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

She watched Nadine zip their sleeping bags together and felt her heart pound. Maybe she should have taken the fleece. 

* * *

The wind woke Chloe in the small hours of the morning, the tent still bright from the moon’s reflection off of the snow, a greyscale but illuminated enough to see. And she was cold, the kind of cold that kept her awake, wiggling her toes in Nadine’s thick socks and trying to stretch out her shoulders. To conserve heat, she needed to stay close to Nadine, so she couldn’t stretch much, but she needed to warm up if she wanted to fall asleep again, so she glanced around the tent, tried to come up with a plan. 

They didn’t have much room. In order to brave the winds, the tent needed to be narrow, just big enough to fit two bodies and packs at their feet, and though Chloe had thought this flimsy shelter would fall over in seconds, somehow it held up against the high winds, not billowing, not even shivering. _I stand corrected,_ she thought as she looked at Nadine, still asleep in their shared sleeping bag, her face relaxed for once, her soft sweater keeping her warm. Logistically, it would be easier if they held each other. No, no, it wouldn’t be, their limbs would fall asleep, and their joints would ache, but it was harder to lie alongside someone than it was to hold them, if not physically then emotionally. Nadine was right there. Chloe might as well hold on.

Back in Cairo, she would walk the streets and hear a language she didn’t understand much of and see people she couldn’t communicate with and feel a kind of loneliness that didn’t let up when she met with her contacts. And the food had been grand, and she’d even had some time for sightseeing, and her bank account had a big, wonderful cushion now, but she would go back to her rented room with a certain discomfort in her bones. Where to next? Malaysia, back to her flat, and she would do her once-a-season cleanout, then text whoever was in town and ask if they wanted to get hot pot, or maybe go to one of the clubs, or maybe just run errands together. Something simple, something uncomplicated. But then what? She would invite someone home, scratch that itch, and she didn’t want something more with that person, or else she wouldn’t have invited them in the first place. She would wake up alone out of choice, but that choice was starting to feel like a burden. And she didn’t feel some kind of sexist biological clock ticking, and she didn’t want to _settle,_ but now, she found it painful to be alone. Not alone, but lonely, lost in a crowd, the only person there who knew her name. She wanted a home, not so that she could stay there throughout the year but so that she had somewhere to miss. She wanted to love others not because she craved a conventional life but because she wanted to be loved in return. 

And she would open her phone at night in Cairo, and she would stare at Nadine’s contact information, and her imagination would start warming up. Nadine in Cairo, following Chloe throughout the trip, telling Chloe when to hold back, saving Chloe’s ass. Then, Cairo was over, and they both slumped over in Chloe’s borrowed bed, and Nadine asked, _what next?_ And the world was their oyster. Chloe almost laughed at how their lives brimmed with possibility. They could go anywhere. They could throw a dart at a map. They could head to the airport and buy one-way tickets on the flight that left the soonest and could travel together to who knows where, Nadine’s bag checked and Chloe’s nudged into the overhead compartment. 

Then, the image would start to break off, lose its sense of reality, and she would think of Nadine in the aisle seat, herself by the window, and the in-flight entertainment had two movies because they didn’t pay for the upgrade. _Want to watch something?_ Nadine would ask, and Chloe would say yes because she couldn’t say no to Nadine. And they would share one pair of headphones - Nadine’s, for she would _never_ let Chloe’s taped-together ones near her ears - and they would lean toward each other, trying to share a screen, and when the movie lulled, when the cabin lights went off, when the rest of the passengers fell asleep, they would be left alone in the glow of their one screen. They were moths to a flame. They were brightness in darkness, surrounded by stars. And Chloe didn’t want to watch the movie at all; no, she wanted to watch Nadine watch the movie, wanted to see the other woman’s reaction, but Nadine could be so stone-cold. Not icy, Chloe knew better, but Nadine held back in front of strangers, only let go around people she trusted. And Chloe knew that Nadine trusted her. The statement felt cosmically right, like a law of physics, immutable and unchangeable and as well-known as left and right. So when she brought her hand to Nadine’s cheek, Nadine would falter, but only a little. Around them, all of the other passengers slept, and Chloe wanted to see Nadine’s reaction, so she kissed Nadine, no intensity, just a kiss, just a simple and obvious kiss, and there was no way to make this kiss mean nothing. And Nadine would bring her hand over Chloe’s, and they wouldn’t even remember where they were about to touch down, and if they crashed, then so be it. There was no better place to kiss than in the cheap seats of an international flight, their airline blankets creating static electricity, Nadine’s headphones falling down between them, neither of them realizing there was turbulence. Here, in this halfway point in the air, they were perfect for each other, and perfect for this world, and never at all lonely.

But Nadine hadn’t followed Chloe to Cairo. Really, Chloe didn’t mind, not even a little, and Cairo had been great, just fine without Nadine. And she didn’t text Nadine after those imaginings either, instead would turn off her phone and go to sleep, her muscles aching, her body exhausted. The truth was that she’d just grown lonely, and there was Nadine, another lonely soul to whom Chloe could tether herself. But they were just friends. No, work colleagues first, and then maybe friends. She was being ridiculous. She didn’t want to kiss Nadine Ross; no, she just wanted to feel less alone.

The wind howled outside, but this tent, this flimsy piece of shit, somehow stayed upright and almost unmoving. They were safe. They were fine. And though Chloe felt a little cold, she could burrow back down and close her eyes, and she could feel the warmth of Nadine’s body so close to hers, and at first, that warmth unnerved Chloe, but eventually, she started relaxing toward the warmth, snuggling in for the night. When they woke in the morning, their tent would be covered in snow, and they would need to dig their way out, but maybe that made this tent more of a home. And it felt like a home. Not like the Malaysia apartment she kept, but a real home, hardy in the winds, meeting all of her needs, warm and comfortable and with all of her important possessions within arm’s reach. In Cairo, her borrowed bedroom had felt like a waystation, but this tent in a frigid part of Scandinavia felt like a home.

She closed her eyes. She needed to stop thinking. Alongside her, Nadine sighed, so Chloe held her breath for a moment. Then, the moment passed, and Chloe exhaled, hoping she could fall asleep soon.


End file.
